A Gleeful Slumber Party
by Guardian Fox
Summary: Ever since Kurt left McKinley for Dalton, he's felt guilty for doing so. Unknown to him, New Directions is feeling just as guilty that Kurt might be thinking they blame him for having to leave, so they plan to fix it. Pre-Klaine. Being continued!
1. Making Plans

**Author's Note: Hi all! So this is my first Glee fanfiction, and actually the first thing I've posted on this site in a LONG TIME, but I hope everyone will give it a chance and enjoy. This story is un-BETA'd, but I trust my editing skills so nothing too drastic should be wrong with it in that sense. Also, I'm Canadian, so I will be using Canadian spelling, and phrases (if you see something that you don't recognise).**

**This story takes place in Season 2 (duh) after 'Furt' and before 'Special Education.' Kurt has transferred to Dalton, but is living at home. The story will be multi-chapter, though I can't predict exactly how long yet, so it may include info from later episodes, though I don't plan of sticking strictly to the episodic timeline of events.**

**For now the story is rated K+ because of mild language, though it may go up in the future depending on how far I take it, still not quite sure, but for now it's safe, so don't worry kids!**

**This story is also pre-Klaine, as will be obviouse when you get to that part, so that means lots of unrequited and sameless, but oblivious flirting. You have been warned. More info at the end of the fic. Enjoy!**

**Summary: Ever since Kurt left McKinley for Dalton, he has been feeling guilty over his descision to do so. Unknown to him, New Directions is feeling just as guilty that Kurt might be thinking they blame him for having to leave. In an attempt to show him their love, the Glee club plans a suprise slumber party for Kurt - on the same night that Kurt invites Blane over to his house for the first time! When New Directions is involved, can things go according to plan? **

**EDIT: OMG so I totally forgot a disclaimer. I don't own Glee oTL. Nor do I own Shakespeare's Sonnett 29. -that's the other part of this edit, decided to add the sonnett to the very end. It doesn't change the story, but I thought it might make it more interesting, and I think this context makes for an interesting read for the poem. Thanks!**

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><p>Monday at McKinley High was going normally, or, as normally as events ever progress at that high school. Regardless, the day had been uneventful, something Puck was slightly disappointed by when the end of it neared. That is, as it usually was, until it was time for Glee club.<p>

Puck was the last member to walk into the music room, and thus only caught the tail end of the discussion.

"... at the Hudmel house after practice on Friday." All of New Directions was gathered around the front row of chairs listening to Rachel ramble about something.

"What's this?" he called out, making his presence known to the group. New Directions turned to him as he continued to speak.

"Finn, you actually having a party? You said your mom would never allow it, and Kurt's dad don't look like someone even I want to cross."

Rachel rolled her eyes at him and took it upon herself to fill him in on the situation before anyone else could say anything. "It's not a party, Noah, and don't you dare try to turn it into one! We have been talking," she indicated the rest of New Directions with a flourish, "and have decided that our team could really use a boost in solidarity before Sectionals. Thus, we are going to be having a team-building sleepover this Friday at Finn and Kurt's new house." She beamed around her in a way that made the others feel guilty for agreeing to this plan.

"A slumber party? Really?" asked Puck, "how old are you all? Six?"

"Lord Tubbington is six, should I invite him, Rachel?"

Rachel shook her head at Brittany.

"Come on you guys, this is going to be fun!" Put in Mercedes, who was obviously on-board with the plan and, Puck suspected, a co-conspirator in its creation. "We've been having a lot of team issues lately, and if we want to win at Sectionals then we have to be a team about it. Do you want what happened last year to happen this year too? We can't fall apart."

"Yeah," chimed in Tina, "Plus it means we can all see Kurt again."

Tina's face fell as soon as the sentence left her mouth. Her hands flew to her lips, but there was no pulling those words back in. The choir room fell silent, each member contemplating the sad and abrupt departure of their friend.

"Guys, we can't let what happened with Kurt get us down."

It was Finn who said this, and he walked to the front of the class to better address the group.

"I know it's been hard this past week without him here," he continued, "and I know we all miss him. Even me, and I live with the guy!" He laughed a bit, but it came out more hollow than intended. He seemed to shake it off however, and pushed through with what he wanted to say. "I don't know how much any of you guys have talked to Kurt over the last week, but if you haven't then take in from me." He looked around the room, into the faces of each of all his friends, trying to be as sincere as possible. "He's been happier this past week. I guess Dalton is good for him, and he won't shut up about missing us, which is kind of annoying – but nice – at the same time. I guess what I'm trying to say is: Kurt wouldn't want us to be falling apart at a time like this. I know our group kind of operates like a contained explosion most of the time, but things have been getting less controlled since Kurt left, and if he knew that, then he would feel guilty because he'd think it was his fault."

"He is kind of self-centred," Puck threw in.

Rachel glared at him. "No more than myself," she huffed in Kurt's defence. The rest of the group shared a glace behind her back that expressed clearly how this wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"We need to do this guys, if not for ourselves and for this team, then for Kurt," Finn finished. Rachel was beaming at him with pride, and he smiled back at her with a kind of bemused expression on his face, like he had no idea where that whole speech had come from, With the way Rachel was looking at him though, he was very glad that it had.

Mercedes and Tina were whispering excitedly to each other, then they turned to the rest of the group.

"You guys!" Mercedes started, "this is perfect! Why don't we make this slumber party into a sort of surprise party for Kurt?"

"Um, why do we want to surprise him?" Asked a confused Sam, "it's not his birthday, is it?"

"No! Of course not, that would be too obvious," Mercedes said, rolling her eyes. "We can just use the bonding time to show Kurt how much we miss him and still love him even though he'll be competing against us at Sectionals. I've been almost non-stop texting him since his transfer, and no matter how many times I tell him that there was nothing he could have done to stay at McKinley if he wasn't safe, he still feels like he's betrayed us."

"Now I'm confused too," Puck said, things were developing too quickly for him to keep them straight. "I thought the point of the sleep over was to develop our own team spirit. Shouldn't that mean not including Hummel in this since he's, you know, not on the team anymore?"

Rachel gasped at this notion, and was prepared to call the whole thing off for what she would term 'the safety of the team,' when Mercedes cut her off.

"Oh Hell to the no!" She cried, glaring at Rachel's already open mouth. "Don't you even go there, white girl. I know you miss him just as much as the rest of us. This is a team bonding thing, and how can you all act like Kurt hasn't been an invested part of this team since day one? He was here before even you were, Puckerman," she said, rounding on Puck, who threw up his hands in surrender.

"Hey, don't get mad at me! I'm just trying to figure out the priorities here!"

"Kurt is our friend. He may no longer be a member of New Directions, but do you really think that he'll be gone forever?" Mercedes looked around herself and was almost shocked at the blank stares her words were receiving. "Hell, no! We are going to get Kurt back here someday. Until then, we have to show Kurt that we are still his friends and that he will _always_ be a part of this team." The emotion in her voice surprised even her and she could feel a prickling at the back of her eyes that she hadn't at all anticipated when she'd started speaking. She took a shaky breath to try to calm herself down. Quinn's arms were instantly around her shoulders, confronting her. It took a moment for Mercedes to realize that she wasn't the only one near tears. Quinn's shoulders were also shaking softly with carefully restrained emotion, and many of the other members of New Directions were rubbing discretely at their own reddening eyes.

Aside from the self conscious shuffling and sniffling, the group was quiet for a few moments.

"It's settled then," someone said, and the whole group turned to Rachel. She was holding hands tightly with Finn, her jaw set in a familiar picture of determination. "The New Directions Surprise Party for Solidarity and To-Show-Kurt-He-Is-Our-Friend-But-That-We-Will-Also-Kick-His-Butt-At-Sectionals-Regardless, is official."

Mr. Schuester came into the room then and the students' impromptu meeting broke up. Glee practice went slowly that day, as everyone's minds were on the upcoming party, excitedly planning what they might wear or bring, contemplating party games, and, Puck at least, figuring out just what the best way would be to sneak in some booze to spike the punch. Needless to say, it was going to be a long four days until Friday.

Mercedes approached Finn after rehearsal to talk to him about the finer points of the plan. She knew that Finn cared about Kurt a lot, but at this moment she could not think of a worse person to be Kurt's step brother. Finn was almost worse than Rachel at keeping secrets.

"Umm, hi?" Finn said, when he realized Mercedes had been staring at him for two whole minutes, trying to get his attention.

"You better listen to this, white boy," she said. "This has to be a _surprise_ party."

"Yeah, isn't that the point?" Finn was very confused about what Mercedes was trying to get across here.

"Finn, I'm going to be honest with you. You are a terrible secret keeper. You have to promise me that you won't say _anything_ to Kurt about this. If we are going to pull this off to the proper effect, he _can't_ know."

Finn huffed, uncomfortable with the third-degree he was being subjected to.

"Okay, Mercedes, I promise I will do my best. Even if it means not talking to him at all."

"Don't go that far!" Mercedes admonished. Finn felt like he couldn't win with this girl. How did Kurt deal with her?

"You can't alienate him either. Just try to act normal around him, and avoid the subject of New Directions altogether, okay?"

"Okay, okay, I will," Finn assured her. She opened her mouth to say something more to him, but Finn quickly cut her off.

"I think I hear Rachel calling me," he told her weakly, then all but sprinted out of the choir room.

Walking down the hall, Finn tried to think seriously about how he was going to approach this. He was almost caught up with Rachel at the front of the school when he realised that, if they were doing this on Friday that meant that he was going to have to somehow convince Burt to let them out of their weekly family dinners.

Although Burt and his mom had only been married a week, Finn and his mother had been to many of the Hummel's family dinners when the couple's dating had reached a more serious stage. Finn groaned when he realized that this week's dinner was going to be the first one after the marriage, which would only make his chances of pulling this off that much slimmer. Maybe as soon as he brought up how important this plan was for Kurt's happiness, Burt would agree. Finn smiled as he thought about the strong father-son relationship that Kurt had with Burt, something Finn would always envy and, as well as he got along with Burt, knew he would never quite get. If be brought up how Kurt was struggling, maybe that would pull the conversation in his favour. With a vague plan in mind, he hurried along the deserted hall to meet his girlfriend, excitement, and a bit of dread, building in his stomach for what he had to accomplish when he got home.

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><p>Kurt sighed as the final bell before lunch rang, and slowly gathered his things together. When he looked up he was not surprised to see that Blaine was already at the doorway to his classroom, and making his way over to Kurt's desk. Kurt flushed and ducked his head to try to get himself under control. It was the Thursday of his second week at Dalton, and yet Blaine still insisted on meeting Kurt after each of his classes and dutifully walking him to the next one. Kurt refused to get his hopes up over the implications of such an action, and resigned himself to believing that Blaine simply did this because his dapper, responsible nature would allow him to do nothing less for the poor, scared boy he had found and was now nursing back to health; Kurt was disappointedly sure that that was the way Blaine saw it.<p>

"What's with the forlorn look? American History isn't that boring is it? At least you're not taking Canadian Studies," Blaine joked.

Kurt whipped his head up from stuffing heavy books into his bag, almost giving himself whiplash, not having realized that Blaine had reached his desk so quickly. Blaine just stood there, an easy smile gracing his smooth face.

"It's nothing," Kurt said, trying to get over the happy shock that always ran through him when Blaine was near him. Before he could go on, however, another sigh escaped his lips. Blaine raised a tick eyebrow at him and looked like he was trying to stifle his laughter, but losing badly.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine," he said. The two were walking out o the classroom now and following the majority of the school population towards the cafeteria for lunch.

"It's Finn, and Mercedes," Kurt confessed. "Neither of them has talked to me much this week, and I guess I'm feeling a little left out." A quiet look overcame his previously smiling features, and Blaine looked at him with concern, but let Kurt continue.

"I mean, I know Dalton is far from Lima, and it's not realistic to think that we'd be spending the same amount of time together as before, but it's only been a week since I transferred and it already feels like they're forgetting about me."

Blaine contemplated these words as he grabbed two lunch trays from the stack and handed one to Kurt.

"How do you mean they're forgetting about you? I thought you texted them all the time, and you see Finn every night."

"It's true," Kurt agreed, "but it feels like Finn has been avoiding me at home, especially this past week, and whenever I talk to Mercedes I feel like there's something big she's not telling me."

"You can tell she's keeping a secret from you just from her texts?" Blaine asked, he sounded impressed.

Kurt rolled his eyes in response and reached for the salad fork. "We're best friends Blaine, I know when that diva is keeping secrets."

Blaine laughed. They continued down the line, paid for their food then found a small table together by the large windows at the far end of the lunch hall.

Blaine watched Kurt carefully as he stabbed his salad in frustration, mutilating it more so than actually eating it. Blaine smiled sadly and reached his hand across the table to rest it soothingly over Kurt's. Kurt stilled instantly and looked up at Blaine.

"I know making this change has been really tough on you, Kurt, but I hope you're not thinking that you've done wrong by your friends by coming here. You weren't safe. You had no choice. These people are your friends, so I'm sure they understand that."

Kurt took a deep breath and wondered at how Blaine always seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. Was he that transparent? Blaine squeezed his hand in a platonic, reassuring way, Kurt told himself, and removed it to start in on his own meal. Kurt continued to stab his salad. He started to talk again, meaning to change the subject to something more optimistic than his own self-pity, but instead found himself spewing all his concerns out to Blaine.

"There was nothing more anyone could have done for me at McKinley," Kurt conceded. "But with Sectionals coming up next week it really does feel like I've betrayed them in a critical moment. New Directions isn't like the Warblers, Blaine, we – I mean they – have barely enough members to even be able to qualify to compete! And now that I'm gone, they have less than a week to find a new member, and New Directions definitely isn't a 'rock star' group so no one's going to be lining up to take the open spot so what if now they have to forfeit and it'll be all my fault and –"

Kurt was cut off by a grape bouncing off his forehead. He flinched in surprise and stared round-eyed at Blaine, who this time was not even trying to conceal his laughter at Kurt's reaction.

"You're face," he gasped. It was all Blaine could manage before he buried his face behind a large hand, wiping away tears, shoulders shaking with loud laughter.

Kurt tired to be angry, but somewhere on the way to scowling it seemed his mouth forgot how to perform that function and he was grinning without knowing why. Blaine saw this and his face lit up in triumph. Kurt blushed at the sight, 'smiling Blaine' was quickly becoming his favourite image ever. Before he knew what was happening, he too burst out laughing with the other boy.

It was a good six minutes before either boy could look the other in the face again without losing their straight face and breaking down into giggles.

Finally Blaine got himself under control enough to start eating his pasta, which by now was already going cold. He was about to apologise to Kurt about the grape-to-the-facce, though he sincerely doubted that the younger boy had minded the minor food fight so much, when he was beaten to the punch.

"Thanks for that," Kurt said.

Blaine raised his eyebrows is surprise, and Kurt continued.

"Though I am usually very picky about what is allowed to come in contact with my face, I really needed that."

"Good," Blaine replied, happy to see a smiling Kurt, rather than the mopey one that had been slumping around all morning. "Next time you're depressed I'll remember that grapes are the proper remedy."

He winked at Kurt to seal the deal, and Kurt bit his lip at the gesture, though Blaine didn't seem to notice.

"I mean it," Kurt said, turning back to his food as well. "It's actually been a really long time since I've had a good laugh like that. I know I said before that Mercedes is my best friend – and she is!" He insisted when Blaine gave him a confused look, "it's just that this whole year we haven't been as close as we were last year. I can't say why exactly. Maybe it was because of the bullying, or something, but there just haven't been a lot of moments recently where I've hung out with a good friend and felt so carefree."

The moment the sentence left Kurt's lips he wished he could take it back. He'd just called Blaine a _good friend_. They'd only known each other for a little over three weeks! What if Blaine took it the wrong way? Now he probably thought that Kurt was some clingy little boy who would throw himself at anyone who showed even the mildest of interest in him, and wouldn't want to be friends with someone who became so quickly emotionally attached? Or worse, what if Blaine only saw himself as a mentor to Kurt? What if the idea of friendship had never even entered his mind?

But through the haze of his panicking, Kurt eventually realized that Blaine was not staring warily at him or looking uncomfortable in any way. In fact, Blaine was smiling at him with that same magnetic grin that dazzled him no matter how many times he saw it.

"I'm glad, Kurt," Blaine said. "It's good to see you so happy. A smile suits you much better than a frown." Blaine was trying to say all this without sounding too ecstatic. Kurt had just called him 'a good friend!' That meant that Kurt valued him beyond the mentoring relationship Blaine had been struggling to keep platonic. Mentally, he was doing back flips.

"And you know what they say about frowning," he went on. He leaned over the middle of the table and gestured for Kurt to do the same. Confused, he did, and suddenly their faces were very close together. Blaine leaned in and placed his mouth next to Kurt's ear, and Kurt fought to keep his shiver as unnoticeable as possible.

"Frowning causes wrinkles," Blaine whispered slowly. Then he was leaning back and giving Kurt that frustrating grin that constantly threw Kurt into loops of confusion and questions about where exactly he stood with the other boy. But Kurt brushed this aside quickly and snorted condescendingly to hide his emotional turmoil.

"If you think that I, Kurt Hummel, will ever get wrinkles, then you clearly underestimate me, Blaine Anderson." He stated haughtily.

Blaine laughed again and was about to respond when the end-of-lunch bell interrupted him.

Kurt gasped and stared down in horror at his mutilated, but decidedly uneaten salad, and began to cram as much of it into his mouth at once. After the warning bell, they only had five minutes to get to their first afternoon class, and Kurt would be damned if he was going to be late for a class in only his first two weeks of attendance, but he couldn't learn on an empty stomach either.

"Come on," Blaine said, getting up from his seat and tugging his messenger bag over his shoulder, "you're going to be late for French, and I need to talk to you on the way about something, because I'll be leaving school early so I won't be seeing you 'till tomorrow."

Kurt looked up at him, and the decision to stop stuffing his face in front of his crush wasn't really a decision at all, he just dropped his fork and stood up faster than was probably necessary. He wanted to ask what Blaine was doing that he had to get out of school early, which must also mean he was missing Warbler's practice later, but his desire to hear what Blaine wanted to talk about was greater.

"Okay," Kurt said, "ready."

They hurried their trays over to the dirty dishes rack, and took off down the hall, heading towards the language corridor.

"I'm sorry you're feeling bad about your friends," Blaine started seriously, returning to their previous conversation, "but I know that you know that you leaving wasn't at all your fault." He made sure to make eye contact with Kurt as he said this, and Kurt nodded slowly to show this was true, but not knowing where Blaine was going with this.

"So," said Blaine, "I think we need to come up with a way for you to talk to your friends about this, so that they know how you are feeling. You have some really good friends, Kurt, and I know you know how lucky you are, so I would hate for you to lose those relationships because of a miscommunication."

They had reached the AP French room, but Kurt didn't enter and the two stood to the side of the doors to keep talking while Kurt's classmates hurried into the room behind them.

"Why don't you come over tomorrow?" Kurt asked, before he could think.

Blaine looked at him, surprised. "I'd love to Kurt," he grinned, "but I thought that you had family dinners on Fridays, and I know how important they are for you. I don't want to intrude."

"It's true that since this week will be the first family dinner where we're all officially a family," Kurt said, smiling when thinking about his dad's happiness, "but we eat early, and you can come over after. We can brainstorm, and put in a movie when we run out of ideas." Kurt self-consciously turned that offer over in his mind, worried that it sounded too close to an invitation for a date.

Blaine was fighting really hard to keep his expression as neutral as possible. Because there was no way that Kurt had meant it the way his brain wanted to take it. Kurt just needed help with handling his friends, and he was asking Blaine for help because Blaine had offered. That was the summary of the current situation.

"I can do that," Blaine said, "but only if it's really okay with your parents. And I'll bring along some of my favourite Disney movies too. You haven't lived until you've heard me sing along to 'Friend Like Me.'" He winked at Kurt again, and then the final bell rang, telling him that he should be in class by now.

"Shit," he cursed. The science wing was at the opposite end of the school than the language hall was.

"I gotta run," he said to Kurt. He started walking backwards down the hall, trying to get to class but talk to Kurt at the same time. "Text me later if your dad says okay, or you know, if he doesn't, or for anything. See you tomorrow!" He turned and sprinted off to his class.

Kurt wanted to keep leaning against the wall and admire the way Blaine's blazer swung as he ran, but the door to his French room was closing and he rushed into the room before it could close. He hastily got to his desk and pulled out his notes in preparation for class, but during the entire lecture he was fighting to keep his concentration on the language of love. Blaine was going to come over to his house. It may not be for the reasons he dreamed, but it was a start. Thinking of those reasons, Kurt was back to signing forlornly. His friends and his family were really all he had. He knew that they didn't blame him for what had resulted from Karofsky's bullying, but still, the neglect this past week did make him wonder.

The teacher was calling on the students now to answer questions, and Kurt tried to shake off his introspective thoughts and pay attention. He could worry about his friends tomorrow with Blaine, but right now, he told himself, his concerns needed to be limited to figuring out how to accurately translate Shakespeare's _Sonnet 29_ from English to French.

Kurt sighed, for the last time, he tells himself, and turned to the poem to start the assignment:

_When, in disgrace with fortune and man's eyes,_

_I all alone beweep my outcast state_

_And trouble deaf heaven with by bootless cries_

_And look upon myself and curse my fate,_

_Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,_

_Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,_

_Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,_

_With what I most enjoy contented least;_

_Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,_

_Haply I think on thee, and then my state,_

_Like to the lark at break of day arising_

_From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;_

_For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings_

_Than then I scorn to change my state with kings._

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><p><strong>Tada! lol. So I don't really know where exaclty this story came from. When I started out, I had a completely different direction in mind, but then it got away from me and I ended up with this. Keep reading to see what comes out of Finn's talk with Burt, and will this party be a precurser to the Rachel-Berry-House-Party-Trainwreck-Extravaganza? (Which, remember, in this instance hasn't actually happened yet). <strong>

**Don't know if I picked _Sonnet 29_ for any particular reason, though it is one of my favorite Shakespeare Sonnets. Read it if you're interested; I think you can apply it to Kurt's situation. Agree? Disagree?**

**I hope everyone liked. It was hard to get into writing New Directions, they're such a crazy group. I feel kinda emberassed that the Kurt/Blaine part of this fic is so ridiculously longer than teh New Directions bit. I honestly didn't intend it to be like that, but when those two flirt it just never ends, so there was really nothing I could do *eyeroll*. Anyways I hope I kept everyhone in-character enough, I'm especially worried about Kurt, since I feel like he came across a little too awestruck with Blaine all the time, but hopefully I can expand on that in later chapters.**

**Review to let me know what you think! I love feedback more than cookie dough. ;)**


	2. Friday

**A/N: Thank you everyone for the hits & reviews, though I of course would love to see more & hear what everyone thinks so far! **

**This chapter starts out with an onslaught of info, so I hope you can all manage through it, but there is light (romantic candlelight) at the end of the tunnel as your reward! ;) A bit of angsty Kurt at the beginning, and lots of tension building! **

**Also, I took a lot of liberties as to the layout of the Hudmel house. I decided that they have a basement, because though in their new house I picture their living room being right next to the front door, that just wasn't going to work for my purposes if that was where the surprise party was going to take place, so I gave them a basement. Also, though I think that Kurt's bathroom is a private one, the idea of a joint bathroom with Finn suddenly came to me and it was too good to pass up, so I went with it. **

**As for Carole's job, is it ever mentioned in the series what she does? For some reason I keep thinking that she is a nurse. In the Pilot episode she mentions trading shifts, which seems like a nurse-like thing to do. Anyways, I made her a nurse. I should probably also have insinuated that her work schedule was a bit more sporadic, accordingly, but I didn't really do that, but it's not that important do I probably shouldn't be drawing your attention to it. :P **

**Well, I've talked long enough. More notes at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Friday<strong>

"What do you mean 'no family dinner this week'?"

Kurt was standing in the kitchen, horrified by the words he was hearing coming out of his father's mouth.

"Kurt, I know what this week is supposed to be, but trust me when I say that we will be having lots of family dinners in the future, Carole and I just thought that it would be nice if tonight we had our own celebratory dinner." The hurt tone of Kurt's voice was tearing at Burt's heartstrings, and he looked across at his son with a pained expression.

"But dad, this is the first _real_ family dinner we were going to have. I was really looking forward to this. How can you do this after what you told me before? After your heart attack, dad?"

Burt sighed and rubbed at his eye. Hearing Kurt being this upset about missing the dinner was making his question his motivations. Truth be told, when Finn had come to him and Carole with the plan that New Directions had come up with, he had at first been very reluctant to agree, for all the same reasons that Kurt was throwing at him now. Finn had managed to convince him, however, that Kurt needed his friends right now more than he needed his dad and new step-mom. Burt could see the logic. Kurt was a young man going through a rough time at school and feeling neglected by his friends. Burt was already thankful that a boy like Kurt could even have so many close friends that cared about him so much. He was touched that they wanted to do this for his son, so ultimately he had agreed. But, as sound as these reasons were, they were all reasons that he couldn't tell to Kurt lest he ruin the surprise, so trying to get Kurt to be okay with missing this dinner was proving to be a bit of an ordeal.

"Kurt, that's not fair," he countered. "Carole and I have just gotten married. I am not going back on my word about the importance of family, but you have to understand that this family now has a husband and a wife. And though we have now been married for a week, and we haven't had a proper honeymoon –"

Burt's explanation was cut off by the way Kurt's hand flew to his mouth at this statement, and he immediately realized how Kurt would have taken that.

"Kurt, no, that's not what I meant. We're not blaming you for the fact that we aren't having a honeymoon in Waikiki. You know that it was our idea to send you to Dalton. We wanted to." Burt caught his son's eye and looked hard at him to try and convey this message in a way that Kurt would actually understand. Convincing Kurt of anything when he thought otherwise was difficult on a good day, but the situation right now was anything but favourable. Kurt was still sensitive about the whole money issue; Burt shoulda remembered that before he'd spoken without thinking.

"We decided," he continued carefully, "that tonight it might be nice for us to have our own dinner out as a mini-honeymoon. We're just going to be going to some fancy restaurant, then we'll be staying at a hotel for the night. We'll be back sometime in the afternoon tomorrow."

Burt reached out to Kurt and clasped his shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. Kurt looked up at him, his eyes that almost-red they always got when he was on the verge of tears.

"Kurt, this isn't the end of a tradition," he said softly, leaning in. "It's the beginning. I promise that we will have family dinners every Friday night for the rest of the time you boys are living with us. But for now, just take the night off, relax. You guys can order some pizza and have a little brother bonding time, how does that sound?"

Kurt took a shaky breath and nodded slowly. "I know, dad," he reluctantly conceded. "I know it's important for you and Carole to have alone time, it's just that I've really missed you since I've been at Dalton. And maybe that's stupid since I'm not even boarding there, but I feel like I'm missing out on time with you, and everything else has felt so hectic lately. I just wanted to have a nice dinner with all of us to try and get it all together." Burt opened his mouth to speak, but Kurt cut him off. "No, dad. I understand. You and Carole need some space." He gave a small laugh to try and lighten the mood. "I get that, you should have a good time with Carole tonight."

Kurt smiled and backed slowly out of the kitchen, leaving Burt standing by the counter, the very picture of concern and conflict.

Kurt walked up the stairs to his new room and closed the door behind him. He moved over to his new vanity and slowly sat down in front of the mirror to try and collect himself properly. He sat there in silence for a moment, but avoided looking at himself in the mirror because he knew that if he saw his reflection right now he would see for himself his own frustration and would just break down completely.

Feeling the need for some comfort, Kurt pulled out his iPhone and texted Mercedes, letting her know he was free this evening, and asking if she wanted to grab dinner at the mall with him (before Blaine would be coming over, of course).

He would have texted Blaine to see if he could come over earlier, instead of at 8:00 like they'd agreed when he'd thought he'd had his family dinner, but Blaine had rushed out of school as soon as the final bell had rung again today, so Kurt figured he had other plans and wouldn't be able to make it to Kurt's until 8:00 anyway.

Kurt waited impatiently for Mercedes' usually prompt response to his texts. When he didn't get one right away he huffed, and tossed his phone onto the wooden countertop.

He got up suddenly and strode into the joint bathroom that he shared with Finn. Seeing that it was empty, though not being surprised, since Finn rarely spent much time in a bathroom anyways, Kurt locked his door behind him and walked to the other end of the room to lock the door leading to Finn's room as well. Then he turned on the shower head, making sure the dial was set to near scalding, stripped, and stepped into the shower.

When Kurt was upset, there were few things that could really calm him down, but hot showers were at the to of that short list. Everything about them, the hot water, the steam, the heavy sound of the droplets hitting the base of the tub, was therapeutic. It gave him time to think.

Kurt reached past Finn's L'Oreal for Kids 'No Tears' shampoo, to grab his own bottle and massaged a dollop into his wet hair.

If Kurt was truthful with himself, he would know that it wasn't just not having a real family dinner for the first time in nine years that was making him upset. What was really bothering him was the fact that no one had thought to tell him beforehand.

How many chances had they had? Kurt mentally recounted his time at home over the past week.

He got home from Dalton at 6:00 every day because of Warbler rehearsal, except for Fridays when he got home at 5:00, since the Warblers never had rehearsals on Fridays. He would usually be getting home around the same time that Finn would come back from school from either Glee or football practice (though today Kurt had yet to see or head Finn around the house and had no idea where he was).

Kurt would go to his room and change, and Finn would be having a shower. Then they would both go downstairs and Finn would waste time playing video games in the living room while Kurt started on dinner. Sometimes they would talk about their days, unless Finn was completing a particularly difficult level of Halo, or if he was outright ignoring Kurt as he seemed to have been doing since Monday this week.

Burt and Carole would come in at 6:30, and after cleaning up from their day of work, Carole would join Kurt in the kitchen while Finn saved his game and watched sports with Burt until dinner was ready for 7:00. They would all sit around the dining room table for dinner and talk about their days, Kurt forcing all the healthy food to his dad's end of the table while Finn told them all about something ridiculous Rachel had said in Glee club that day. After dinner Kurt was excused from dishes since he had helped with the meal, and Finn and Burt would clear the table while Carole started on the dishes, Finn helping her. Kurt would go upstairs to get a start on his dense Dalton homework assignments. He'd stop at 10:00 to do his skincare routine before finally turning in.

Kurt sighed as he rinsed the shampoo from his hair. Just going over the process of his daily activities was making him tired. But the routine of it all was helping to calm him down. He pushed some conditioner into his hair. While it set, he lathered up his loufa and carefully soaped himself up.

_Maybe I'm just on edge because of the transfer_, he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and leaned his head out of the spray of the showerhead. Steam was accumulating quickly in the shower since Kurt hadn't bothered to turn on the fan.

Going over his weekday schedule again, it struck him with how little 'me-time' he had between his homework and household duties. The two-hour commute was the worst bit. _Is it worth it?_ He wondered.

Dalton was definitely an amazing school. True the classes were harder, but hadn't he just been complaining to Mr. Schuester a few weeks ago about how un-challenging he found things at McKinley?

At the time he hadn't just been talking about the Glee club assignments. Kurt wasn't one to brag, ok, only if it had to do with his singing, but he was a smart guy, and at McKinley the curriculum was sub-standard at best. The sad fact of the matter was that he lived in small-town Ohio where not everyone expected, or was expected, to go very far with their lives academically, and the curriculum reflected this disinterested attitude.

Dalton was like a completely different world. First of all, it was a prep school, so the curriculum was specifically designed to prepare students for the academic challenges they would face in college or university. Also, the majority of the students who went there were the sons of well-off families. These boys had parents that were probably lawyers or doctors or politicians, or anything else that paid well. There, the expectation of academic success existed because the parents expected their sons to get similar professional jobs as them, which obviously required good schooling and good grades in order to get into the appropriate colleges. Of course, this went hand-in-hand with the steep tuition.

Kurt would also be lying to himself if he said he wasn't enjoying Dalton's student life. As different as the Warblers were from New Directions, they were an interesting group of boys. As much as Kurt missed having girls around, he was enjoying the dynamic of an all-boys choir, especially since this group of boys could be much more mature than the ones at McKinley. And Wes was right. They all treated him with such respect and equality, it was almost surreal. No one was shoving him into lockers (there weren't even any lockers to be shoved in to) for being different. It was like no one noticed that he was different at all, or if they did, no one seemed to care.

But it seemed that at home he wasn't being treated with that same equality. He had a right to know what the rest of his family was doing, didn't he? Especially when those plans affected him. If he'd known beforehand that his dad and Carole had decided to make tonight a night out then he could have told Blaine to come over earlier. Instead, now Kurt would have to wait around until 8:00 to see the other boy, with nothing but homework and a practically invisible brother to distract himself with.

Frustrated with real life as he was at the moment, Kurt allowed himself to indulge in a bit of a fantasy. He leaned back against the perspiring tiles and tilted the showerhead so the water would still hit him, rinsing the conditioner from his hair as his mind wandered.

If he had known that his parents would be out, Kurt could have kicked Finn out of the house too. He could have prepared an elaborate and romantic candle-lit dinner for him and Blaine. They would play Frank Sinatra while they ate, and Kurt would slowly seduce Blaine over a desert of warm crème brulee. They would feed it to each other, leaning tantalizingly close over the table, as they had at lunch yesterday. They would stare into one another's eyes, the love suspended there gleaming in the soft glow of the flickering candlelight, lost to the world, while hot wax dribbled down the candlesticks, unnoticed.

The shower water running suddenly cold jarred Kurt from the vivid romantic imagery. He gasped and wrenched the tap to 'off' to stop the ironic freezing onslaught, and stepped quickly out of the shower. He was blushing furiously.

Who was he kidding? He asked himself as he reached for his fluffy white towel that hung on the towel rod closest to him. Blaine was a good friend. He was being sympathetic and compassionate to Kurt because he understood what he was going though, and had been through it himself before. He was helping Kurt out because he was selfless like that. Shame on Kurt for reading more into the situation than there was! Hadn't he learned from previous experience not to make that mistake? How could he just go falling in love with the first gay guy he met?

Kurt froze midway through drying his back.

Whoa.

Falling in love?

Maybe he needed to get back into the shower and cool his _brain_ down.

Kurt dried himself more thoroughly than was probably necessary.

Despite the nearly 40 minutes he had spent in the shower and, apparently, using up the houses' supply of hot water, he was not feeling much better than he had been getting in. Kurt grabbed his housecoat from the hook on the back of his door and pulled it on, hanging his towel back on its rod.

He opened the door to his room and went straight to his iPod. Scrolling through his playlists, he finally selected the one with the loudest, most mindless music available, clicked it into the iPod player on his night table, hit play, and kept raising the volume until he could no longer hear himself think.

Ke$ha's _TiK ToK_ echoed around him and inside his head as he re-entered the washroom to dry his hair and get it perfect for when Blaine would be coming over. He wasn't looking at his iPod screen when it flashed the time before the backlight regressed to the lower-power level:

6:20.

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><p>Burt and Carole had gotten home an hour early that day in order to have extra time to get ready for their dinner out. While Carole was in the shower, Burt had been downstairs explaining to a surprised Kurt as to why they were back at 5:30 instead of their usual 6:30.<p>

Kurt stormed upstairs shortly after their argument/conversation/heart-to-heart, just as Carole was getting out of the shower. Burt had wanted to stay and make sure that Kurt was really okay, but then he'd heard the shower start and knew that if they waited for his son to finish, they would miss their 7:00 dinner reservation at the restaurant, which was already a bit of a drive away.

So the newlywed couple finished getting dressed, separately, as the occasion called for, and prepared to leave the house for a night that they had not altogether planned on having, but were now anticipating with all the jitters and excitement that a real honeymoon called for. They were at the front door when Carole turned to Burt to tell him to wait a moment, before she hurried down the hall and knocked on the door to the basement. A few seconds later the door swung opened and Finn stepped out to meet them.

"Did I hear the shower start?" he asked, looking from parent to parent.

"You did," his mom said, "Kurt just got in. He's a bit upset at us, so I suspect this will be one of his long showers."

Burt sighed in regret and fiddled distractedly with the sleeve of his suit jacket, but he nodded his agreement. "Now," he said, turning away from the front door to face Finn fully, "I don't want things to get out of hand while we're gone. You promised this party was for Kurt and that there's to be no alcohol involved, and I'm holding you to that, you got that?" he asked, eyeing his large step-son warily.

"Don't you worry, Burt," Finn assured him. "We just wanna show Kurt a good time and that we care about him. Nothing too crazy, I promise." He smiled quickly and added, "and if Puck tries to spike the drinks I'll be the first to kick his butt out of here." He grinned at his step-dad, happy that so far, things were working out.

"That's good, Finn." Burt said, deciding to ignore the comment. "Listen, Kurt's pretty upset about us not having dinner, so I think this party will be good for him. I'm proud of you kids doing this."

"You got it," Finn replied.

"Finn," said Carole, and Finn turned to face his mom, "good luck with the surprise party honey."

Finn smiled down at his mom, and for the first time took in her appearance. She looked beautiful tonight, in a plum dress that complemented he frame nicely. It had been a long time since he'd seen his mom so dressed up, and Finn found himself thanking whoever was up there that it had been Kurt he'd gotten as a step brother if it meant his mom feeling so good about herself again.

"Thanks mom. You look great," he added. He gave his mom a hug and then stood at the door to wave his parents off as they pulled out of the driveway.

Finally, he closed the door and pulled out his phone. The time on the screen read 5:47.

Okay.

Time to work.

Finn glanced up the stairs and listened to make sure the shower was still running (he would never understand why Kurt liked to take long showers, but right now he was banking on that fact), before sending out the mass text:

_Parents gone. Kurt occupied. Come now. Operation Surprise Kurt is a Go._

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><p><strong>And that's all for now! I wanted to keep going, but it felt like a good spot to end it, so I did. Also, even though this chapter is shorter than the first one, it is a lot more dense, but I hope everyone is a psyched for the party as I am! I have the next little bit planned out, so next update shouldn't be too long.<strong>

**I think it's adorable that Kurt loves romance over sexy things, so I poked a bit of fun at that with his little shower fantasy. Him getting turned on by a romantic dinner would TOTALLY HAPPEN, you can't deny it. ;)**

**Also, just want to say that I hope I haven't offended anyone from a small town or Ohio with what I said above about the schooling system. Honestly that is based solely on my own impression of small towns, the tone that Glee gives it, and what Kurt says in 'Never been Kissed.' **

**Questions? Comments? Let me know how I'm doing! That little button down their isn't going to push itself!**


	3. Preparations

**A/N: First off, thanks for all the hits and comments! So gratifying to know that people are reading and enjoying this. That being said, I'm sorry everyone for the super long wait between last chapter and this one. I have to blame writer's block and lazyness. :( I know, I'm sorry. Also going to have to apologise for a shorter chapter. Do you guys like shorter chapters and quicker updates? Or longer chapters with shorter updates? I could have kept going with this chapter, but I wanted to post something for you guys, so I managed to find a good place to stop. :)**

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><p>Mercedes almost missed the buzzing of her phone, but as soon as she registered the noise she practically dove the length of her couch to reach it. Tina, whom she had been sitting next to, screamed in surprise. They both 'oof'ed' loudly when Mercedes landed painfully on Tina's crossed legs a few inches short of the end table. Mercedes groaned and rolled over to face the ceiling, clutching tenderly at her bruised stomach, phone forgotten.<p>

Rachel snorted at all of this, and attempted to hide he mirth behind her hands, glad that for once it was someone else doing something embarrassing in front of everyone.

Her laughter was cut short, however, by the buzzing of her own phone. She scooted from her seat on the floor of Mercedes' living room to the coffee table to retrieve her phone and read the new text:

_Parents gone. Kurt occupied. Come now. Operation Surprise Kurt is a Go._

Rachel leapt up from the floor in triumph and turned to Mercedes and Tina, both now recovering from Mercedes' failed stunt.

"Guys! It's from Finn," she cried, referring to the fact that both Tina and Mercedes had received, she presumed, the same text as her. But that wouldn't stop her from being the bearer of the news!

"Kurt's distracted," she informed them, "let's go!"

Rachel was already at the front door as she said this, bouncing on the balls of her feet impatiently for Mercedes and Tina to get up from the couch.

"Did you guys get that text?" Quinn's voice carried into the living room from the kitchen. She came into the room. Brittany and Santana followed her with Tupperwares full of cupcakes they had finished icing only minutes ago. Lauren came out after them, licking icing from her fingertips.

"Yes," Mercedes replied before Rachel could open her mouth. She swiped her sweater from the back of her couch, car keys jangling in the pocket.

The glee girls all trouped out of Mercedes' house and into their cars in the driveway. They had all carpooled to school together in Mercedes' and Rachel's cars, bringing all of their sleepover stuff to school. After school (and no glee club rehearsal thanks to much badgering of Mr. Shuester on their part) they's all gone to Mercedes' house to do all the final touches on decorations and delicious treats; also, her house was the closest one to the new Hudmel household.

Rachel was already at her wheel by the time the other girls had made it outside. They crammed into the two cars and drove quickly seven blocks over. As per pre determined agreement, they found parking spaces about a block away from Kurt's house. They hadn't wanted him to casually glance out his window (now that he could, since he didn't live in the basement anymore) and see all their cars right outside his house. That would be a dead giveaway. They hurried out of the cars, piling as much stuff into their arms as possible as they wanted to make as few trips between house and car as they could manage. The girls hurried down the street, trying to step lightly, but their mounting excitement was too much and they frantically tried to stifle giggles as they neared the house.

Finn saw the group of overburdened girls approaching from the living room window and had the door open for them before they'd reached the top of the driveway.

"Where's Kurt?" Rachel whispered, lingering by his side as the others passed him on the way in.

"Kurt's in the shower," he whispered back, "don't worry about it." He grabbed whatever he could from the arms of whoever looked like they were about to drop something as they passed him into the house. Puck was already there and he jumped out of the way as Brittany made a beeline for the basement door.

"Whoa!" he threw up his hands and stumbled to get out of the way.

"Shhhhh!" Rachel hissed at him, being the last of the girls to start making their way downstairs.

Puck mock glared at her and grabbed what Finn had taken from the girls before following them down, leaving Finn to his watch at the living room window for the rest to arrive.

"This is a different basement than the one Kurt and I made out in," Brittany said as she reached the bottom step and looked around. The new basement was spacious. It had a mini kitchen to the right of the stairs, and an entertainment centre at the opposite end of the room. The fact that you could still see the beige walls and that most of the countertops were still bare was testament to how little time Kurt had spent in the new house.

The group was so used to Brittany saying nonsensical things, that they all ignored her out of habit and missed this juicy tidbit of gossip.

"How the heck did you get here before us, Puck?" asked Santana as she dropped her load onto the nearest couch. "Mercedes' is the closest house to here."

"I was hiding in the bushes," Puck said, shrugging casually.

Quinn rolled her eyes at Puck's statement.

"Your concern for the success of this surprise would be endearing if it weren't so creepy," she dead-panned.

"Guys," Tina spoke up in a hushed tone, looking worried, "why aren't you whispering?"

"Oh relax," sighed Mercedes. She had pulled out her homemade streamers and had already begun taping them to the walls and ceiling, Brittany standing on a chair to help her. "Kurt takes even longer showers than I do. I'd say we've got at least half an hour to get everything together before he gets out. And how is he going to hear us over the water and from two floors down?"

The group of friends, now reminded of their time limit, stopped their chatting and hurriedly set to getting the basement appropriately decorated. Mercedes and Brittany continued with the streamers while Tina plastered cut outs of golden stars* to the walls. Santana hung a banner at the bottom of the stairs, facing the room that read _Friends_, and had hand doodles by all of New Directions surrounding the word. Rachel and Quinn were organizing food in the mini kitchen in the corner of the basement and Puck and Lauren had put themselves in charge of storing everyone's overnight luggage in a closet at the side of the room.

The male half of New Directions had clearly not been as organized as the girls had in preparing for the event. Mike arrived a few minutes into the frantic preparations, and was immediately set to work mixing a bowl of punch. But it was a good 15 minutes before Artie showed up with his dad and Sam, who had hitched a ride.

The basement was mostly ready by now. The decorations were up, party games were laid out, the fridge was stocked (and Finn had checked twice to make sure that Puck hadn't snuck any booze into it). As the activity downstairs had started to calm down, Mercedes suddenly remembered the CD she'd brought especially for the event. She'd been looking forward the shakin' it with Kurt to her newest Lady Gaga medley she'd burned the night before. While everyone was re-checking their preparations and Finn was dialing up Dominos for pizza, Mecedes slipped up the stairs and ran out to her car to grab the CD.

She hurried back into the house, but as she was closing the front door, something made her pause; it suddenly seemed too quiet. Before she had enough time to fully contemplate the meaning of the silence, music was suddenly blaring from upstairs. Kurt must be out of the shower. She held her breath and tip-toed her way past the stairs and to the basement door. Kurt was out of the shower now, so they would have to be more careful about their noise level. Just as she was reaching for the handle she recognized a few lines of Nickleback's _Next Contestant_, and her eyes widened in shock. She flung the door to the basement open and flew down the stairs.

"What did you do to him?" she demanded (as quietly as one can demand anything), rounding on Finn as soon as she reached the bottom landing.

"What?" Finn gave her a confused look.

"Kurt just got out of the shower," she informed them all, "and he has his iPod on."

"Why does that-"

"He's playing Nickleback, Finn!" she hissed, marching right up to him. She leaned threateningly into his personal space, determined to take away any superiority Finn might be feeling from his height advantage over her. "Kurt only plays bad Canadian Metal music when he's upset and doesn't want to think about something. So I'm asking you again. What. Did. You. Do?"

Finn shifted awkwardly and leaned away from Mercedes, intimidated and once again wondering how Kurt managed to be such close friends with this girl.

"Kurt's upset?" he asked. "Damn, I though a shower was going to make him better."

"Um, I'm sorry," Santana quipped from her perch on the kitchen bar stool, "do either of you want to explain what the hell you're talking about?"

Mercedes turned expectantly to Finn, one hand on her cocked hip.

"It's not my fault," Finn said. "Kurt came home, but when he found out that we weren't having our family dinner like usual he flipped out. He's seemed really stressed all week, even though I haven't seen much of him," he avoided Mercedes' eyes as he said this, knowing that he hadn't done a good job of adhering to her 'don't alienate Kurt in order to keep the secret' advice. "So he's angry about that, I guess."

"You guess?" She sounded exasperated. "Didn't you think he'd think something was up if something like that was sprung on him all of a sudden?" Mercedes demanded. "No wonder he was in the shower for so long!"

"I'm still lost on the whole shower thing," Santana hinted, wanting an answer to why Kurt being in the shower was such a sign of doom.

"Oh," Brittany interrupted, "have you gotten lost in your shower before, too?"

"Kurt is a stress showerer," Mercedes explained, smoothly ignoring Brittany's comment, "when he's upset he'll play loud, mindless music and stay in the shower for at least an hour."

"This party was supposed to be about making Kurt feel better," Mercedes said, lashing out at Finn again, "I told you not to do this to him."

"Everyone calm down," Rachel intervened. She stepped into the middle of the room, hands raised in a placating manner. "We can't be fighting right now. We have to be here for Kurt, but more importantly," she lowered her tone, "he'll hear us if you keep arguing."

She turned to Finn. "Finn," she said, "it's not your fault about Kurt; though giving him a little warning would probably have been a good idea. Mercedes," she turned to her fellow diva, "we know you're just looking out for Kurt, but we need to be a team right now. You both should apologise, and then we can move on with our plan."

Finn and Mercedes awkwardly shook hands. It was enough to satisfy Rachel.

"Perfect," she said. "Now, all we need to do-"

She was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. Everyone went into a silent, frozen state of panic. Some looked around the room to see if all their members were there, making assumptions about who would be stupid enough to ring the doorbell at the house where they were hosting a Surprise party. Others looked at their watches. Was it the pizza guy already? They'd ordered about six pizzas; they couldn't be ready that fast?

6:35.

Finn quietly told everyone to keep quiet, and ascended the stairs to answer the door.

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><p>*<strong>This is a reference to something that happens in the 'Glee Original Novel: The Beginning,' by Sophia Lowell. I finally caved and bought it. It's pretty cute and a good intro to the show. I think it does a good hob of laying out a lot of the relationships between the teenagers, and I definitely recommend it (if you have read it, please talk to me about how you thought they characterized Kurt! I thought he was so cute in it and loved everything with ) Anyways, the reference there is to the fact that Tina joins a decorating committee and spray paints a bunch of cardboard gold stars as decorations. It was cute, &amp; it fit here, so I decided to throw it in.<strong>

**Yay for stress showering! My friend does that, so I took it directly from her (though I don't reccommend it, it wastes a lot of water :( )**

**Anyways I hope that this short installment will be enough to tide everyone over for a while. I'm actually going away on vacation in a few days & won't have extended access to a computer so I can't update for a few weeks, but I will definitley be bringing my writers' notebook with me and will pen out all my ideas so that I can add updates more quickly after I get back.**


	4. Surprise?

**A/N: Thank you everyone for your support! This story is being continued! I didn't forget about it, I just had a major case of writer's block. I re-read it though, and got some Ideas so I'm ready to move forward. That being said, if anyone has something they want to see in this then drop me a line & I'll see if I can make it work with the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter! 3**

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><p>Kurt came out of the shower dressed in his white bathrobe, fluffing his hand through his recently dried hair. He'd been able to calm down a bit since drying off, and now his mind was focused solely on preparing the perfect outfit for when Blaine came over.<p>

Blaine wouldn't be over until 8:00, so Kurt had plenty of time to plan, but the circumstances of the night also meant that Kurt couldn't dress to his usual impeccable standards. Blaine was expecting a casual movie evening – emphasis on the _casual_.

Kurt was instantly regretting this.

He couldn't help feeling like this was a date, regardless of how much it was no NOT a date. What was the appropriate dress code for a sleepover for two gay friends who were not currently being gay together?

Kurt shook his head as he began pulling shirts out of his closet and holding them up to himself in the mirror, before discarding them onto his bed in frustration. He had to stop thinking like that. Blaine was his friend, a really good friend. He was unlike anyone Kurt had ever met. He'd been so kind with Kurt about his problems, supportive in every way.

He liked Blaine, there was no doubt about that. But he also knew that there was no way he was ready to be in a relationship right now. Hadn't his father just recovered from a serious heart attack? Hadn't he just transferred schools midway through the school year under beyond stressful circumstances? And wasn't he even now adjusting to a new house with an entirely new family? What kind of boyfriend could he be to anyone with all of that so freshly behind him?

It was for the better that he wasn't dating Blaine. What he really needed right now was easy, reliable friendship. And so far, Blaine seemed to be the only one readily able to provide him with that.

Over the noise of Green Day's _Basket Case_, Kurt hear the unmistakable echo of the doorbell.

Had Finn ordered the pizza already? Without even consulting him? Kurt frowned. He was getting more and more annoyed with his step-brother's unexplainable actions. Kurt threw on a pair of white skinny jeans and a Dalton sweater that Blaine had lent him and left to answer the door.

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><p>Finn reached the top of the basement stairs and stepped out into the hallway. He could hear music blaring from upstairs. Kurt probably hadn't heard the doorbell ring. Regardless, Finn thought that he'd better make if fast if he wanted to deal with the pizza guy before Kurt had the chance to show up. He did eat a lot, but there would be no way for him to innocently explain away the six pizzas he ordered as being for just the two of them. Kurt would definitely get suspicious.<p>

The doorbell rang again twice in quick succession and Finn jogged to the front door to open it. "Easy with the doorbell, man, we've kinda got a surprise-" But he stopped midsentence.

Standing on the threshold was a vaguely familiar boy in a very familiar uniform.

He looked mildly surprised to see Finn, clearly not being who he'd expected to open the door. But he masked it quickly and held out his hand.

"Hi," he said. His voice was slightly hoarse, and now that Finn looked closer, his eyes were red-rimmed and his face looked raw. He cleared his throat before trying to speak again, this time his voice coming out more smoothly.

"My name is Blaine. You must be Finn. Kurt's mentioned you." Finn nodded and shook his hand. Blaine continued. "I'm sorry for interrupting your dinner, but is he here? I really need to speak with him."

Finn opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a surprised voice coming from the top of the stairs.

"Blaine!"

Blaine's head shot in the direction of Kurt's voice at the same time Finn stiffened and held his breath.

Kurt rushed down the stairs and Finn stepped aside for Kurt to meet Blaine at the door. Kurt took one look at Blaine's distraught face and pulled him into a tight hug. Finn watched stupidly as Blaine returned the hug automatically, clinging to Kurt's back. He was trying to take deep, calming breaths, but every so often his they would stutter and he would shake with the effort of controlling himself. Neither seemed to notice the tears that ran freely down Blaine's face; Finn only caught glimpses of them as Blaine burrowed his head into Kurt's shoulder, and they soaked into the blue cotton of his sweater. Kurt was clutching Blaine just as strongly Blaine was him, whispering assurances into his ear that Finn couldn't hear properly. The whole situation was making him feel uncomfortable, but he didn't know how to leave without attracting attention to himself. Kurt finally pulled back a bit from Blaine, though he still held the other boy close.

"Come into the living room, sit down, it'll be okay," he said softly, and Kurt steered a sniffling Blaine into the room next door, leaving Finn standing alone in the entranceway. Finn noticed that there was a small duffel bag on the doormat outside and he picked it up and finally closed the front door. He walked into the living room and set the bag down by the coffee table. Blaine glanced up at him briefly, embarrassment colouring his face. Kurt was sitting next to him on the couch, arm soothing circles into his back as Blaine slowly regained control of himself. Kurt noticed Finn standing there awkwardly and looked up at him, putting aside his frustrations with his brother for now.

"Finn," he said, "can you please put some tea on for Blaine? It will help and I think I can trust you with that." He turned back to give Blaine his full attention, leaving Finn with no choice but to do as he said.

In the kitchen Finn paused to assess the situation.

_What the hell was going on?_

One moment he thinks their surprise is about to be busted, and the next some guy shows up from Kurt's school and cries his eyes out on Kurt's shoulder. Finn absently filled a mug with water at the tap and put it in the microwave to heat up. Then he set about finding tea bags.

Finn remembered where he recognized this guy, Blaine, from. Hadn't he seen him at McKinley a few weeks ago? Kurt had gone to Dalton to spy like Puck had suggested, so at the time Finn had thought that the Warblers had sent someone to return the favour. Except, what kind of idiot would spy at a public school in his private school uniform? Then Finn had noticed that Kurt was with him. They'd walked out of the courtyard where Finn was eating lunch outside with Puck and the other guys, and Finn had lost them in the crowd. He'd been about to bring it up with the guys, thinking that maybe he was seeing another Jesse St. James fiasco taking root and that they should squash this private school preppy before he could do them any damage, when he caught site of that iconic uniform on the caged stairway. Upon closer inspection Finn recognized Kurt's slim form and the hulking mass of Karofsky and his letterman jacket. It was the oddest group of people Finn could have imagined to be talking on a stairway. Kurt and Karofsky talking was unusual enough, but what did this Warbler have to do with anything? He watched as Karofsky brushed past the two and continued down the stairs. Sam said something to him then and he looked away, forgetting about the boys on the stairs. When he looked up again they were gone. Finn hadn't given that moment a second thought, until now.

The beeping of the microwave pulled him from his thoughts. He finally found the teabags and grabbed a random one from the box. He dropped it into the steaming cup and added a spoon. As he closed the door to the microwave, he noticed the time and cursed. _It was almost 7:00! _He hadn't realized how long he'd been up here, the others were going to get suspicious and come check on him! That couldn't happen, not with Kurt in the living where he would see them.

Finn pulled his phone out to text Puck downstairs and try and explain the situation. He was about to press send when he heard a door in the hallway open and a voice call out for all to hear.

"Dude, are you trying to get us caught? What's taking so long?"

From the kitchen, Finn saw Puck appear in the entranceway, and freeze when he caught sight of Kurt on the couch. Kurt was staring at him, just as surprised by his presence as Puck was by his. Blaine looked up too. His eyes were brighter now and he looked like he'd calmed down in the time Finn had taken to prepare his tea, which was cooling, forgotten, on the countertop beside him.

Kurt turned on the couch to look at Finn. There was hurt and anger in his eyes. With a beseeching tone, he asked his step brother, "Finn, what's going on here?"

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry this chapter is so short, but I needed to get to that point. Please let me know how I'm doing! Reviews inspire me, plain and simple.**_  
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	5. Assumptions & Accusations

**A/N: Please don't hate Kurt in this. Or anyone else. I had a lot of trouble with myself for writing Kurt this way, but it had to happen like this. **

**Warning: shit is about to go down.**

**Disclaimer: still don't own Glee, and time is running out before season 3 premiers, damn.  
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><p><strong>Assumptions and Accusations<strong>

"What do you think is taking him so long?" asked a worried Tina.

Finn had been gone upstairs for almost fifteen minutes now, and they hadn't even heard the hint of footsteps returning to the basement door. The group had kept quiet since the doorbell had rung, and especially after Finn hadn't immediately returned; trying to hear what was going on.

They'd all flinched when they'd heard light footsteps hurry down the first floor stairway.

"Shit," Sam had cursed. "That's Kurt. Think Finn can explain away the pizzas?"

"Not a chance, man," Puck said from the wall where he was leaning by the foot of the stairway. He was trying to be on lookout, but it was fruitless since the stairs turned around a corner before you could see the doorway to the main floor.

"Now, everyone," soothed Rachel, "Let's try to stay calm. Finn is a leader. I'm sure he's got everything under control."

"Can your naive fantasies Berry, Frankenteen couldn't take charge of a situation if his comic book collection depended on it," Santana smirked. Rachel glared at her.

The room went back to their listening. Rachel was barely able to contain herself, shifting from foot to foot and turning her head as if to get a better angle to hear at.

"Does is sound like the pizza guy?" Rachel finally asked.

"Rachel, I would _love_ to know what you think a delivery person sounds like," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

Rachel huffed and went to sit on the couch and ignore everyone around her as if it were their punishment for shutting her down. The group just sighed in relief now that Rachel wasn't bothering them and went back to listening in peace. They could hear muffled footsteps, and held their breath in anticipation, but the footsteps only got quieter until they couldn't hear any movement at all. Whatever was happening upstairs, the people weren't in the entranceway anymore. The group waited for a few more minutes, listening desperately for clues.

"This is taken too long," Puck finally decided. He stood up from the wall. "I'm going to see what the holdup is."

"Be careful, Puck," Mercedes warned. Puck waved off her concern and started up the stairs. The group huddled closer to the bottom of the stairway as Puck ascended. The door bumped against the doorframe behind him and bounced back out at bit, leaving a small gap that made it easier for the group to hear what was going in. Rachel scrambled up from the couch and joined the group again.

They heard Puck call out for Finn. Some flinched at his crudeness.

For a while there was silence, then they heard the low tone of Kurt's voice asking a question, but it was too far away to make out exact words. Everyone stayed silent, hoping to better hear what would happen next.

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><p>Silence.<p>

It was equal parts uncomfortably, tensely, palpably, heavily, lividly, guiltily, and tangibly silent in the living room.

Finn didn't know what to do.

Puck stood frozen in place.

Kurt was trembling.

Blaine had hunched over on the couch, trying to be as small as possible as if to avoid the toxic atmosphere that had suddenly sprung up around him.

"I said," Kurt repeated, "What's going on?" He stood up from the couch in one fluid motion, back rigid, hands immediately to his hips.

"Kurt," Finn started. His instincts were telling him to step back from Kurt's menacing pose, but stepped forward instead, hands raised in a placating manner. His mind was scrambling for explanations, some way to salvage this moment, as well as the surprise. "It's no big deal," he started, "Puck was just over for–"

"Oh!" Kurt's voice rose almost shrilly, making everyone in the room flinch. "You've just got a game night going on with your football friends downstairs, is that it?"

Finn's mouth fell open. "Kurt, no. That's not –"

"Hah, don't give me that, Finn," Kurt's voice was dangerously low now. If the situation weren't so dire, Finn would have been impressed at Kurt's range. "You've got your football friends here, and you didn't tell me because you don't want your _gay_ stepbrother to _gay_ it up around you!"

Kurt could feel steam picking up. His earlier frustrations were all flowing back to him, fuelled by the bits and pieces of what Blaine had just told him, and he channelled it all like the pro bitch-er he was. He strode over to Finn and stopped a foot away, thrusting an angry finger in Finn's face.

"The truth is, Finn, that you never wanted our parents to be together because you never wanted me as your brother. You lost everything when you moved in with us. Your house, your room, that stupid _chair_." Kurt knew it was a low blow, but right now he was revelling too much in the look of hurt and fury that flashed over Finn's face to care. "You never invited any of your football friends over before, not because you didn't want to. After all, what kind of quarterback can't even host a good party for the team?" Kurt snarked condescendingly, "but because my dad went to you and told you that he wasn't comfortable with that happening. Not after what he knows they did to me at school – what _you_ used to do before joining _glee_!" Kurt pulled a face, "How awful for you, Finn, having the gayest boy in school dragging down your rep."

"Stop," Blaine moaned from the couch, but no one heard him.

"But, now house, new rules, right?" Kurt continued. "But, what I don't get is why you didn't tell me about your little party beforehand, huh? Wouldn't it have been better to get me out of the house so you and your friends can have the run of the place without me holding you back?" Blaine flinched at the wording. His heart rate was speeding up again.

Kurt ignored the voice in his head that whispered that even if Finn had told him, Mercedes clearly already plans. Who would he have hung out with? Since transferring, it had become clear to Kurt how little he really knew any of hi so-called friends at McKinley. "Or did you think that I'd tell dad about it if I knew? Better to keep me in the dark, then. No point in treating the gay kid like he's actually a person with _feelings_."

"Stop it, Kurt," Finn yelled. Finn was breathing harshly, clenching and unclenching his hands. He was trying to tell himself to be the bigger man here, figuratively speaking of course. Every accusation Kurt made felt like a needle to the heart and blood draining afterwards. "God, I am so sick of you always using your sexuality to win arguments." But he couldn't let Kurt sidetrack him, no matter how true some of his accusations may be. He had to get his own words into this before Kurt completely ran away with his own ideas. "Did you know that there are other reasons that someone might not want to spend time with you?" And, crap. Well, good job Finn, that certainly helped the situation. He flinched when Kurt flinched.

Finn's face fell as he realized the impact of his words. He couldn't let this go on. Screw the surprise; he had to salvage what he could from this argument that was quickly spiraling out of his control. Finn opened his mouth to tell Kurt everything.

The doorbell rang.

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><p>The group downstairs jumped in surprise at the sound of the doorbell.<p>

"What the heck? I thought the pizza person came already?" Artie whispered.

"That was too soon," Quinn decided, "It must have been someone else."

"Yeah, but who?" Mercedes asked.

"Shush, everyone!" Rachel whispered. "I'm trying to listen."

Not that their listening, could it be called eavesdropping now?, was doing them any good. The door may be open, but that just made the sounds louder, it didn't mean they could hear individual words.

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><p>Puck jumped in surprise, the first movement he'd made since entering the living room. Finn went rigid and cursed vehemently in his mind. This time, he knew who would be at the door. And he knew how it would look to Kurt. Kurt turned away from Finn and stared at the door.<p>

"Go on, Puck, open the door," he said. His voice had lost much of its bravado, and wavered at the point of barely concealed tears. "Open the door and let in your football friends. Can I assume from the lack of inane videogame noise and the fact that I can still smell my air freshener in here that that is the first of the team arriving?"

He glanced over at Finn with a triumphant looking smirk, but Finn saw the hurt in his eyes. His stomach plummeted as he realized that Kurt was looking forward to getting proven right, even if that meant being right about something that he wanted so badly to be wrong about.

Kurt turned away and crossed his arms over his chest defensively and waited for the door to be opened.

Puck glanced over Kurt's shoulder at Finn, looking for direction. He knew as well as Finn who was at the door. Finn could only shrug in defeat. Puck nodded imperceptibly, also in resignation.

The front door opened to reveal a man in a gaudy orange polo shirt with a matching orange visor. He was balancing a high pile of pizza boxes precariously on one arm, using his other hand to steady it at the side.

"Pizza delivery. I got six pizza's here for a Mr. Hudson."

"Yeah, man that's me," Puck nodded. He held out his hands for the boxes. Finn stepped around Kurt's tense form and fished in his pocket for the cash that everyone had pooled together to pay for the pizzas. He pulled it out now and paid the man, adding what he assumed was the correct tip; math was never his strong point.

The man gave a tight smile and wave as he turned to leave. Finn closed the door after him.

It was silent in the living room again.

Kurt was eyeing the pile of pizzas with a closed expression. Suddenly he stormed over to Puck and yanked the boxes from his arms, somehow managing to not drop any of them with his force. Without a word he began towards the doorway to the basement.

"Shit. Kurt, no," Finn said loudly. His face drained of colour. "Kurt, please listen to me!"

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><p>There was silence for a long moment. Then stomping feet getting louder. Then yelling. They heard the door slam open above them and all scurried away from the bottom of the stairs.<p>

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><p>Kurt ignored Finn's pleas and used his foot to shove the door to the basement open. Finn was running now, yelling desperately for Kurt to stop. It couldn't happen this way. Kurt shouldn't find out like this.<p>

Behind him he heard Puck shouting as well.

"Hey, uniform boy. Where do you think you're going?"

Finn skidded to a stop at the doorway and clomped hurriedly down the stairs. He saw Kurt turn the corner ahead of him and sped up. In a few seconds, all their planning would be for nothing.

"All right Hamhocks," Kurt yelled. He slammed his way down the last steps and almost threw the pizzas at the counter. "Enjoy your carb loading. I hope your arteries choke on the amount of grease I'm sure you've added to your pizzas, because if you think that you can just come in here and use my house for whatever..."

Finn stumbled down the stairs just as Kurt's red-hot rant turned to ashes on his tongue.

In the basement, ten pairs of equally shocked eyes stared back at Kurt's, and they were not the eyes he'd been expecting.

"Kurt," Mercedes said. She took in her friend's disheveled appearance. "What's going on?"

Kurt made an unidentifiable noise, turned, and fled the basement.

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><p><strong>AN: Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Blaine. His issue will come up soon so stay tuned!**


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